122
FOUS11 KWBC 100748
QPFHSD

Probabilistic Heavy Snow and Icing Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
348 AM EDT Fri Oct 10 2025

Valid 12Z Fri Oct 10 2025 - 12Z Mon Oct 13 2025

...Northern Rockies & WA Cascades...
Days 2-3...

A strong upper-level trough traversing the Pacific Northwest on
Saturday will provide ample upper-level ascent over the Northern
Rockies Saturday night and into Sunday. The EPS shows a classic
"kissing jets" setup Saturday night with the diffluent left-exit
region of a strong 120-140 kt 250mb jet over Utah and the diffluent
right-entrance region of a >100kt 250mb jet over south-central
Canada both located over western Montana. 18z ECMWF depicts PWAT
percentiles are likely to remain above the 90th climatological
percentile through early Sunday morning with ample moisture aloft
to saturate the DGZ over the Absaroka, Lewis Range, and Tetons.
There remains some uncertainty with varying solutions on the
depth/phasing of two 500mb disturbances over the Northwest. The GFS
is the most amplified of the bunch and is more amplified compared
to the GEFS mean, while the ECMWF/UKMET/EC-AIFS are in the middle
ground compared to the more overly amplified GFS and weaker/sheared
CMC solution.

With a lack of sub-freezing air ahead of the trough, even with a
encroaching colder, western Canadian high pressure system on
Sunday, this setup tends to favor the higher elevations of the
Northern Rockies. While a more amplified solution like the GFS
cannot be ruled out yet, the antecedent air-mass both ahead of the
storm and trailing behind the system are not overly impressive for
mid-October. As high pressure builds in from the north, colder
temperatures and easterly upslope flow will keep snow lingering
along the Lewis Range into Sunday night. Snowfall rates could
approach 1"/hr in the Lewis Range and around Glacier Nat`l Park
Sunday morning, which could also foster hazardous travel conditions
in nearby passes.

Additionally, a separate upper low is forecast to drop south into
the Pacific Northwest on Sunday within the same longwave western
U.S. trough. This will allow for snow levels to remain rather low
for this time of year (around and slightly below 4,000 ft) across
the WA Cascades along with favorable upper ascent, which may lead
to some light accumulating snow for the major mountain passes.

WPC probabilities through early Monday depict moderate chances
(40-70%) for snowfall >8" in the peaks of the Lewis Range above
6,000ft (including Glacier Nat`l Park) on south along the
Absaroka/Tetons above 8,000ft through Sunday afternoon. Lighter
snowfall accumulations as low as 5,000ft in the Lewis
Range/northwest Montana and 7,000ft in the Absaroka/Tetons are
expected. WPC`s Probabilistic Winter Storm Severity Index (WSSI-P)
show similar chances for Minor Impacts for the event in these
mountain ranges. Other mountain ranges are likely to receive light
snow totals (2-4") as far west as the Bitterroots and as far south
as the Teton and Wind River Ranges in western Wyoming.


The probability of significant freezing rain across CONUS is less
than 10 percent.


Snell/Mullinax




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